Fire
by Sumiko Mori Genji
Summary: Okay look, the other two failed stories  which is why they are failed stories  sucked. I have more time and effort  and honestly, knowledge  to put into it, so here goes one more try!
1. Chapter 1

"Are people staring at me, because I feel like people are...?" I said worriedly. Nari ran close behind me, but worried about hitting her, I picked scooped her up into my arms. "I don't like people staring at me; it makes me really nervous and annoyed!"

Gaara turned and looked at Nari while we kept walking through the Hidden Leaf Village. He looked up at me slowly and said,"Don't hurt anyone..."

"If people are staring at me I will!" I complained, listening to some creepy blond chick's conversation. Her hair was in a high, tight ponytail and she was wearing a mostly purple outfit. Very, very short cut clothes...

"Who's that with Gaara? I haven't seen her around here before..." The blond asked a guy who also had a ponytail, but with brown hair and he had earrings.

The guy said, "Who cares, she looks better than you do, Ino..." Her name's Ino? Hm, weird...

"Shikamaru!" The blond, I mean Ino, slapped him. It was a fairly light hit. "How could you say that?"

"Like this." Shikamaru answered. "She looks better than you do, Ino." I laughed quietly as I kept walking with Gaara down the road.

"Hey!" Ino called out to me. "Hey, you, come over here!"

"Who me?" I asked, hearing exactly what she had said. Nari curled up in my arms to get comfortable to sleep.

"Yeah, do you have a problem with your hearing?" She asked mockingly.

"Do you have a problem with getting exercise? If I wanted to talk to someone, I would walk over to them." I returned, stopping on the pavement. Gaara hit me on the shoulder when I finished talking. "Well it's the truth!"

"Not now!" Gaara snapped.

"That little...!" Ino started to say.

"I've got to meet this chick..." Shikamaru said. "Hey, what's your name?"

"Give me a reason and maybe I'll tell you." I replied as I adjusted Nari's position in my arms. For a tiger cub, she was pretty heavy. Gaara pulled on my arm to try to get me to walk again, but I refused.

"I just want to know." He said.

"Fair enough... My name is Sumiko."

"What are you doing with Gaara then?"

"Walking to some place he won't tell me about."

"Seriously, you won't tell her?" He asked Gaara.

Gaara shrugged and said, "Because, I don't think anyone else needs to know." He pulled on my arm again. "We need to go now... come on."

"We've been walking most of the day, can't we take a break? Nari needs sleep, she's been walking with us all day; she's probably hungry too." I complained.

"We're almost there, can't you hold out for a little longer?" He pleaded. I turned to him and looked straight in his eyes.

"Don't make me do it..." I warned, still staring.

"I won't, now keep walking." I knew that he wouldn't let me, so I just sighed and kept walking. I broke my eye contact with him after a few more seconds.

"What were you going to do? I want to see how tough you are." Ino demanded.

"I'll show you. I'll show you a few more things, too." I said, trying to keep any emotion out of my voice. I knew if I went too far, I might go tails. I put Nari down next to me and she sat there, tired still.

"No, you can't do this now! That's part of the reason we're here!" Gaara exclaimed worriedly. He held onto me around my shoulders, but I could still make the hand signs for Clearsight. I slipped out from his arms and walked behind Ino.

"Where the hell did she go?" Ino yelled. I went out of the first stage so they could see me again. I held one of my fingers in front of my lips to keep them quiet. I counted down from three in my mind and then screamed in her ear, making her scream louder than I did. I laughed while she nearly jumped two feet in the air.

"Okay Gaara," I said, still chuckling. "We can go now."

"Did you really have to do that?" Gaara asked.

I nodded and added, "Do you want me to hold it all in and go tails?"

"That's the whole reason we're here!" He complained. "We have to go find someone to help you with that."

"Why? I can control it just fine!" I picked Nari up carefully as not to disturb her again.

"Yeah, but you burst into it randomly. Remember what happened last time?"

"The Akatsuki saw me and didn't try to kill me but instead wanted me to do crap for them. I would've turned on them and tried to destroy them anyways."

"It's not my fault they caught you in tails..."

"You're completely wr- I mean right..." Gaara, you are the reason I was caught, I thought, you just don't know why or how...

"What were you going to say...?"

"Nothing, Tsuki's the only one that knows what happened." I walked farther ahead of him, speeding up when I could recognize the streets better. I ran off towards Tsuki's house, or at least the house I used to live in before I went to the sand village. Gaara chased after me and caught up when I finally got to her house. I knocked on the door and Tsuki opened the door with Naruto standing behind her.

"Sumiko!" Tsuki yelled hugging me quickly after I set Nari down again.

"Can't breathe...!" I struggled to say. She let go quickly. "So..."

"Oh, yeah, sorry..." She said. "Come inside!" Tsuki pulled me in by the arm while Gaara walked in behind me with his arms crossed.

"I was the one bringing her here..." Gaara muttered. "But she was the one to get here first..."

"Wait, this is where we were going?" I asked quickly. "Why?"

"Yes, she's a jinchuriki too." He replied.

"I know that! But she's not the one stuck with a backwards two- tails in her body!" I complained.

"Wow. You've gotten a little bit of a temper since I last saw you..." Tsuki added.


	2. Chapter 2

"Yep, I don't think it'll change soon." I said.

"Yes, it will. It's the reason you went tails that one time." Gaara claimed.

"It's also because the Akatsuki captured you and took Shukaku." I added. I suddenly blushed and turned to Nari who was making odd noises that I recognized signaled she was hungry.

"She's gotten really big since I last saw her!" Tsuki changed the subject for me.

"Yeah, and greedier too, so if you want to eat stop trying to beg for the food." I said getting a piece of jerky out of my bag and setting it down in front of her. "I'm going to put an aura stopper on her when her growing stops."

"What's that?" She asked.

"Aura changes as you get older; if I stop it at the end of her growing then she can't grow." I answered. "I might stop it sooner though, I can tell she likes for me to be able to pick her up." Nari made an approving meow sounding noise and ran off to look for things in the house.

"Naruto, you're being quiet." Tsuki told Naruto.

"What? Oh sorry, thinking of something else." Naruto replied. "I want ramen..."

"That was very random. Two subjects in one breath." I said. "Nari's probably sleeping on my bed isn't she?"

"You just did it too." Naruto said with a smirk.

"Yeah, well I'm a random type of person." I replied. "That's what happens. Anyways, I'm going to go find Nari..." I walked off into my bedroom and, as I thought, Nari was sleeping on my bed. I laid down carefully on another part of the bed and looked out the window on the opposite side of the door. I had left the door open, and I could hear them talking in the kitchen.

"Don't fall asleep on me." Gaara said from behind me. I rolled over, not surprised by his sudden vocal appearance. He closed the door behind him.

"I'm not going to. It's pretty cold in here, so I don't think that's possible." I replied. He sat down next to me on the bed, being carefully not to wake Nari. I maneuvered myself on the bed so I was closer to Gaara and placed my arms around his stomach. "You're warm."

"You're weird." He replied. Nari yawned, got up, and walked sleepily over to me and curled up at my stomach.

"Well someone thinks I'm warm, so ha!" I retorted playfully. "Sorry about earlier I was kind of pissed about all the walking."

"No, it's fine, but part of it is the two tails." Gaara said.

"Oh well..." I sighed sadly.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"I've been holding a lot of things in lately..." I replied. "It's just sad, really."

"What?"

"Well, remember when we didn't see each other for that long time when you were back in the sand village and we broke things off?"

"Yeah."

"...Mmm, I don't know how to say it..." I let go of him and went over to the window and opened it. I sat in the window sill and let the cold air blow into the room. Gaara stayed over at the bed, silent. "I... I still like you..." Still more silence from Gaara's part. "Please don't ignore me... It was hard enough to deal with it on the way over here." He stood up and walked halfway to the window.

"...I do too..." He finally said.

"Thanks for saying something." I sighed.

"You didn't let me finish. The reason I took you out here is because you have to stay here until you can control the two tails better. The Akatsuki will come back to the sand village to find you."

"You do know I didn't go tails in the sand village? This is the first place they'll look for me!"

"What do you mean?"

"I went tails in the leaf village! Here, at the little garden where I'm almost always at when I'm frustrated!"

"Then what am I supposed to do?"

"How long did you say that you could stay here for...?"

"Only a couple more days. Why?"

"I think you know why. If the Akatsuki doesn't come for those two days, then I'll stay for a few more days and repeat that until they do then I'm coming back."

"What does it have to do with me?"

"You stay here for those two days and if they come then I'm going back with you."

"Then they'll follow us!"

"We'll go to my village then."

"Where is it?"

"You won't know unless we have to go there, but even then, you won't know how to get back to it."

"Fine, just be careful if you're going to leave here on your own."

-The Next Morning-

"Sorry there wasn't anywhere else for you to sleep." I said when I saw I was holding onto Gaara's arm.

"It's okay, and how would you know if I was awake or not?" Gaara asked turning his head towards me.

"Obviously it would be hard to get back into a normal sleeping pattern after seventeen years without sleep..." I replied turning my head to face him also. "Stop looking at me like that!"

"I don't know what you're talking about." He said.

"You're looking at me with bedroom eyes!" I informed him laughing. "What do you want?"

"I don't know what you're talking about; it still makes no sense what you're saying." He moved closer to me in a way to make me hold myself up on my elbows facing upwards.


	3. Chapter 3

"What are you doing?" I asked precariously. Gaara put his arms on either side of me.

"I still don't know what you're talking about..." Gaara said. I wasn't sure what he was planning, but amongst my worried thoughts there were some that were actually anxious to find out what he wanted to do.

"I- I thought that we broke things off, i-if that is what this is about..." I stuttered.

"The broken can be repaired, you do know that?" He muttered as he softly pressed his lips against mine. As he tilted away I quickly moved myself away from him, worried there would be more.

"Don't do it..." I sighed carefully.

"Are you sure we're both thinking the same thing...?" He asked looking straight at me and slowly kissing me again, lingering at my mouth for a few seconds.

"Maybe, I'm not sure." I slowly wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him. I rested my head on his shoulder and wondered where Tsuki was. "Hey, do you know where Tsuki and Naruto are...?" I sat up once again. Gaara shook his head.

"No..." I quickly got up and ran out into the hallway. I looked in the cabinet in the kitchen and saw there were still six ramen left. I shut it and stood there.

"Where are they!" There were usually no ramen left when both of them were here. Gaara walked over behind me and put his arms loosely at my waist.

"It's okay; they might have had to go somewhere." He brushed his lips against my neck and held onto me tighter.

"Not without eating ramen first, they always have at least five each." I stammered. "You know, this is the least safe place for me to be in another way, the Akatsuki knows she's tails also."

"I doubt that's the reason she and Naruto aren't-" Gaara started to say as we heard a loud knock on the door.

"Oh no..." I quickly and quietly locked the front door tightly and ran to my room to pack up my things. Nari growled and ran to the front door. Gaara followed me and I started packing his things also.

"How do you know that it's Akatsuki?"

"Black aura- very, very black aura..." I finished packing and started to open my bedroom window after leaving my things inside until I may need it. "That's how. Now get your bag, and I'll get Nari, you have to go. You're the kazekage, you're more important than I am." I ran to get Nari and picked her up when I got to the front door. She kept growling until I took her to the window. Gaara was waiting for me at the window with his arms crossed.

"I'm not leaving without you. You'll go tails again, and you're still important." He got out onto the roof and waited for me to slide down before he did. We slid down into the snow that had fallen overnight and we silently snuck away. Zetsu's two sides were arguing with each other, which was kind of cool to me but maybe disturbing to others.

"Are you sure they're not out of the house, like the five and nine tails?" One side of Zetsu asked.

"Maybe, just break open the door..." The other replied. Hm, I thought, this is the same dude that asked me to join. They must be running low on members if only he showed up.

"Shh, we might be able to sneak out of here if we're quiet." Gaara whispered to me.

"If you want to leave, just go right around the corner," I replied quietly. "I can get out of here fine. This is probably one of my last chances before they'll kill me or something."

"But..." He started to say in a hushed tone.

"Don't you trust me? Now go, before he sees one of us." I muttered kissing him quickly. "Just swoop in and be superman if anything happens to me if you feel like it..."

"Fine, but if you get hurt it's not my fault." He replied slowly inching around the corner. As soon as he did, I walked over to Zetsu and he turned around.

"Look who finally showed up." One said.

"First of all, rude; Second, that's not true. I've been here for a few minutes." I corrected.

"Hm, anyhow, what's your decision?" The other asked.

"I'm guessing this is probably my last chance, but don't you think that we should do this somewhere else?" I asked. "Someone could see us after all..." Man I'm good at lying, I thought. This is the last part of town anyone would look.

"Who cares, I doubt anyone would see us." The white half said.

"And what does the serious one say?"

"Just give an answer in the next minute." The black one said. "We're wasting time already."

"Fine," I replied. "My answer is no."

"Like I said, this is your last chance." Zetsu disappeared and then came back about twenty yards away until he was out of sight. Gaara ran over to me and kissed my cheek.

"Now can we go back inside?" Gaara asked.

"No, we have to find Tsuki and Naruto." I said seriously after setting Nari down. "I know that something happened to them. You know what; I think I know where they are." I ran up to the house with Gaara following after me.

"Where are we going?" He complained.

"Hot springs; they normally don't go there," I replied. "But sometimes when they're stressed they do. Or when they're just bored and wanted to go out somewhere."

"Okay, well I'll get my trunks..." He sighed.

"I'll get my stuff, too. Bring a towel also." I stated running to get my bathing suit and a towel. I ran back to the door and picked up my flip flops which were still there from last summer. Gaara waited for me at the door and we headed out.


	4. Chapter 4

-Half an Hour Later-

"Hey, there you are!" I yelled when I saw Naruto and Tsuki sitting in the hot springs with Shino, Kiba, Rock Lee, and some other girl. "We've been looking all over for you!"

"Well, you didn't get into any trouble did you?" Tsuki asked.

"I did, actually." I replied. "Zetsu again; I surprised they send a spy for something another person could do. I'm going to get changed, you too Gaara!"

"Great, and go get changed, for a hot spring, it's hot in the middle of winter." She said. I went off to the cave I had found when I was here once. It's small but it's good to change in. I put on my swim trunks and bikini top- with thick straps obviously, I'm not a slut- then left my clothes in a small area in the cave and ran over to the hot springs and waited for Gaara.

"Just get in, it's freezing out there." Kiba sighed sinking himself deeper into the water. Just as he said that, Gaara ran over and tried to push me into the water.

"Don't... do it..." I said slowly but not seriously. I put my hand forward onto what some moron thought would embarrass me. I knew what it was, the most basic thing anyone who could use ice could do- an invisible ice barrier. It was barely cold and it melted away quickly with fire. I turned around to face Gaara. "That's why you don't push people into water if there's something that only a low level ninja would use in front of them!"

"Excuse me talking, but that was me." The odd girl said. "Do you have a problem with that?"

"No, it just kind of shows you haven't been through the chuunin exams." I replied slowly stepping into the water and walking over to her. I sat down next to her and she looked at me.

"Have you?" She asked.

"Yeah, no duh," I replied. "That's one of the reasons people get into the Akatsuki for... and if you're something they could use against the general public but..."

"Who cares?" She asked. I kind of had a feeling we would have some problems. Her aura was actually an odd color. It was kind of a mix of light blue and light pink, somewhat of a bluish lavender color. Of course, I was a neon color also, but I was neon green and her neon bluish lavender. Tsuki's is neon purple, but sometimes it seems more like just straight purple. They'll get along better, but green is in blue so maybe we will too.

"Anyway, I'm Sumiko. Who the hell are you?" I said flatly. For some odd reason, Gaara decided to jump in right at that very instant of time and splash water on me by doing so. He came back up in a matter of seconds and sat next to me.

"Nice to meet you Sumiko and I'm Shizu." She replied. I noticed that Nari hadn't followed me here, she probably stayed inside.

"So where's Nari?" Kiba asked me.

"Nari, who's Nari...?" Shizu asked.

"My tiger cub..." I replied.

"How's she doing?" Kiba asked me.

"First of all, she's at home, she didn't follow me here but I don't mind." I answered. "Second, she's getting bigger. I've been thinking about stopping her aura, it grows with you, so if I stop it now then she won't get bigger. She enjoys me carrying her, so I'm going to let her enjoy that." I sank farther down into the water and looked over at Gaara as I sighed. I quickly looked away as Tsuki broke the silence.

"Hey, Lee, shouldn't you be with Guy sensei?" Tsuki asked. "Not to get rid of you or anything, but you're usually always with him."

"Guy sensei let me have a day off, but he does not know that I won't be taking the full day off!" Lee replied. "I will train later when the time comes!"

"Interesting..." Tsuki muttered. "So, Sumiko, what happened with you and-ah- Zetsu earlier?"

"Long story, I'll tell you later." I said. "Oh, and that reminds me, Gaara, if they come again we're leaving for the sand village and if we see them or hear word from them, we can't stay there."

"Then where would you go?" Shizu asked.

"No place you've heard of..." I sighed.

"I bet I have." She mocked.

"I bet you haven't." I replied. "Only the people from the village know where it is or about it unless one of them tells someone else about it." Shizu just glared at me like there was too much sun in her eyes and turned away.

"I think we need to go, it's almost lunch time." Tsuki suggested.

-After Getting Back Home-

Tsuki and Naruto kept eating ramen even after Gaara and I had finished. When I finished, I walked into my room and Gaara followed after me.

"What do you want?" I asked when Gaara sat down on my bed next to me.

"Nothing..." He answered sliding closer to me.

"You want something, or else you wouldn't be doing this." I sighed. I moved farther away from him and he scooted even closer to me. "Now tell me what you want!"

"Can I have it if I tell you?" He asked hopefully.

"It depends what it is," I muttered. "But yes."

"Can I kiss you?"

"That's a weird way to ask, but yeah." Gaara knocked me down onto my bed and straddled my hips.

"Are you sure?"

"Mhm..."


	5. Chapter 5

Gaara rested on his elbows a few inches from my face and started kissing me multiple times. Since he was keeping me in place with his arms and legs, I knew there was no way out of it besides letting him do what he wanted. I let him go on for a little longer, but later pushed him away.

"What's in your pocket?" I asked curiously. He reached with one arm to his pocket and pulled out a small plastic thing from his pocket.

"Fine you caught me." Gaara said as I took it out of his hand.

"What is this- oh god I didn't need to know that." I regretted.

"Hey I said I wanted your mouth, nothing else." He accused.

"Well at least you have some kind of limits..." I sighed. "But still, who do you think I am?"

"Someone that I can trust I won't need that for, but it's better to be safe than sorry."

"Good point, but finish your want or whatever." He put it back in his pocket and started kissing me again. At least I know he loves me enough to want to carry that with him, I thought, I really shouldn't take that for granted. Gaara sat up and moved off of me and I moved over. I took both of his arms and put them around my stomach and pulled him down onto the bed on his side as I lay in front of him.

"Okay, this works... not what I thought you were going to do but I'm fine with that..."

"Well sorry if this is what I want." As I said that he held onto my tighter.

"In that case," He kissed my neck and got closer to me. "I'll stay here." He put his knees behind mine and did his best to line up against me.

"If I fall asleep, I don't mind if you leave." I did want him to stay, but if he wanted to go somewhere else I would be fine.

"No, I'll stay." Gaara pressed his lips slowly up my jaw to the corner of my mouth and then moved back to where he was before. He kept tightening his arms around me.

"Why are you doing that?"

"Oh, sorry," He loosened his arms and slid back a little. "I-I just, well, I don't know..."

"No, it's fine. You can do it again, but don't kill me." I laughed. He readjusted his position and tightened his grip around my stomach. Not after too long I fell asleep to see a dream about me attacking the Akatsuki the next time they had came to ask me to join. I barely remembered it when I woke up, but when I did finally wake up, I was facing the opposite direction and Gaara was holding me to his chest.

"I told you I wouldn't leave if you fell asleep; I've been here for about half an hour."

"Sorry," I looked up at him. "Just wondering, are we dating again?"

"I thought I made it clear this morning... yeah, we are- if you're okay with that. I was just kidding about that first part."

"I thought so- on the last two parts, anyways." I kissed him and pulled myself closer to him.

"I like this better because this way I can actually kiss you." Gaara smiled and kissed my forehead.

"It's still bothering me...what was up with this morning?"

"Uh... I don't know... I had to stay up all night and you were there... and I had time to think..."

"That's okay; it was just kind of weird is all. What time is it?" I sat up and leaned over the edge of the bed to look at my alarm clock. "...Is it three already? ...Hm, seemed shorter than that, this is going to be boring."

-Ten at Night-

I quickly put on my pajamas and ran to the bathroom to brush my teeth. As I was brushing my teeth, I decided to look for Gaara. I couldn't find him so I went back into the bathroom and finished brushing my teeth. I walked over to my bedroom and opened the door; Gaara was sitting on my bed.

"I thought you would never be done..." Gaara muttered.

"Wait, what? Did you already brush your teeth...?" I asked. He nodded, got up and walked over to me. He pulled me to the bed and kissed me. I moved back from him quickly.

"Really...?" He sighed.

"I want to go to bed, thank you very much." I replied getting under the covers. That was a mistake...

"Well, that wasn't smart..."

"It wasn't?"

"No it wasn't..." Gaara moved himself under the sheets also and made his way over to me. He held down my arms and I let him kiss me a few times and then I pushed him off of me.

"I'm sorry, Gaara, but if you're going to keep doing that, I'll find somewhere else to sleep." I stated. He moved to the other side of my bed and I turned the opposite direction, feeling bad about what I said now.

After about ten minutes I fell asleep. I had the same dream as I did earlier.

Tobi came out of nowhere as I was walking some place.

"Sumiko," He said. "This is the last time we'll ask you without consequences. Are you going to join the Akatsuki or not?"

"I'll say what I've said three times now- no!" I yelled. Didn't they say that at the second offer? "Why would I want to join you, I know that this is only the second time we met, so who told you to ask me?"

"Deidara; He told me to before he went off to get the one tail." Tobi replied.

"Do you think that I haven't recovered from what you all did to Gaara-sama?" I complained. "Or even what Deidara did- or tried to do- to me?"

"You do know, unfortunately, that Deidara was killed?"

"That doesn't make up for the past!"

"Deidara-senpai was a reasonable man, Sumiko. I will follow through with his wishes, even if it means going after you for a while." He threw kunai at me, and before I could see what happened next, I woke up around seven in the morning. I could see the light through the window, which made me realize I was on the other side of my bed.

"Gaara-sama...?" I asked without thinking. I meant just to say Gaara, but instead I said Gaara-sama. I realized that he had his arms around my waist.

"You haven't called me that for a while, why now?" Gaara asked.

"Just an odd dream..." I muttered.


	6. Chapter 6

"What kind of an odd dream?" Gaara asked.

"Well, not so much odd as it was..." I said. "I don't know... not really scary... ah... twisted." Gaara sat up and moved next to my legs and pulled on my arms. I got up and blinked a few times to get adjusted to the light. He kissed me putting one of his hands behind my head.

"You don't know how hard that was for me last night to wait until you woke up to do that." He informed me. "I'm going to miss you."

"Wait, has it already been two days?" I exclaimed. Gaara nodded and kissed me gently again. "Damn it, Gaara, can't you stay any longer?"

"Not too much longer..." He sighed. "But I have to go back, starting in the next few hours."

"I don't want you to leave..." I choked out trying to hold back tears. I hugged him as tight as I could and started crying. "Please don't leave! The Akatsuki already came here once, I-I don't think I could handle whatever's next from them-"

"Yes you can. You'll be fine." He said.

"How would you know that I would be able to?" I complained. "They already got me into tails once!"

"Shh... it'll be okay." I let go of him and looked him in the eye. He looked straight back at me and kissed me.

"Can you promise me one thing?"

"Yes."

"The next time I see you," I chuckled a little bit. "Will you let me make out with you?"

"What?" Gaara laughed a little when he asked.

"Will you or won't you?"

"Sure, but I get to pick when."

"I can live with that." I started to try to look on the positive side of it all, and I convinced myself that I would be fine.

-An Hour After Gaara Leaves-

"I'm not going to survive." I told Tsuki as I lay on my back on the couch. "I'm going to be so bored." Nari made a 'mroww' noise when I said that.

"You'll be okay, just don't die of boredom." Tsuki muttered. I put one of my arms over my eyes and sighed. I realized that from the aura and mental links I had put between Gaara and I was letting me hear some of his thoughts. Sumiko will be okay, he thought, the next time I see her, she'll have more control over herself, won't she?

Since I had learned how to set up links like that without people knowing and removing them at will, I could talk back to him through my thoughts, but then he might think that he's just imagining things. It's worth a try...

Gaara, I thought, I'm really bored. Want to talk?

What? He thought, where are you?

I'm at my house, I kind of set up a mental connection between us without you knowing.

Oh-okay- well then how many thoughts can you hear?

Uh...let's go with a few...

Crap... I'm not even going to ask what you thought you heard me saying in my head.

All I heard was that you were trying to reassure yourself about me. I can't really hear anything else because you're getting farther away.

Just wondering, the Akatsuki hasn't come over there yet, have they?

No, not that I know of...

At that point, I decided to walk to the small garden at the edge of town where I first went tails. It was a calming place to me, that's why I went there when Gaara "died". I cut off my thoughts with Gaara when I got there and sat down under a tree. I closed my eyes and thought about other things, and then it hit me- Valentine's Day. I completely forgot that in fourteen days, it was Valentine's Day! Is Gaara going to remember? What do I do- what do I give him? The obvious thing is to kiss him, but what do I do?

After a lot of thinking to myself and later walking home, I just decided that on Valentine's Day that I would go back to the garden. Obviously, Gaara wouldn't remember that he would have to leave two days earlier than Valentine's to get here on time. I realized, now, that the only thing that really happens is Gaara kisses me, he asks to date me, and then it lessens from there. It made me think about why I let him kiss me anyways and start dating him again. No wonder I'm calling him Gaara-sama every now and then. It's not the same; I can't even trick myself to think that it's okay now. I should just give up on him if he doesn't at least send me something for Valentine's Day.

_Days and days and days went by with more boring hours dragging along through the week, leaving me more degraded and tired than usual. I stayed at the garden most of the time. Even though there were only four days until Valentine's Day, I hadn't thought about it again. I just put it out of my mind and didn't worry about it; it was making me really stressed. The more I went to the park to keep my mind off of it, the more comfortable it was there. I sometimes fell asleep there and at night slept better somehow._

"You have officially reached an all-time low in the subject of boredom." Tsuki told me when we got to the garden.

"Not really." I corrected carefully. "I could survive without Gaara before I met him and still keep myself entertained, so why shouldn't I be able to now?"

"It's because you're in love!" She teased exaggerating the word love.

"You are too." I said on an impulse.

"Yes, but Naruto's here- and I don't mean to say that against you."

"It's all good, it's all good..."

"All I'm saying, is when Valentine's Day comes around, you'll probably feel kind of-"

"Stop- stop, stop, stop! Forever stop telling me that!"

"I wasn't going to say that, for god's sake Sumiko!"

"No I mean don't tell me that, Gaara's not here and if he's not here for Valentine's Day it'll make me feel worse!"


End file.
